SINGAPORE (June 21): Shares of Trendlines Group were up as much as 3.2% at 19.5 cents after the Israel-focused technology incubation company received approval to start investing in agriculture technology firms in Israel.

The approval follows a request by Trendlines in March to expand the incubator licence of its Israel unit to include agriculture technology investments.

(See: "Trendlines Medical gets approval to set up 9 to 11 new portfolio companies yearly")

Trendlines had previously invested in medical technology startups in Israel.

The approval will allow Trendlines to grow its business, although it will not have any immediate impact on its earnings.

By comparison, the benchmark Straits Times Index is down 0.1%.